ATLANTA (AP) — Patrick Cantlay delivered the goods again, this time with a 6-iron instead of a putter.
“Patty Ice” was just as clutch with a $15 million shot that allowed him to hold off Jon Rahm and win the FedEx Cup on Sunday.
In a tense duel with the world’s No. 1 player, Cantlay had a one-shot lead going to the par-5 18th hole at the Tour Championship when he hit 6-iron from 218 yards to just inside 12 feet that secured the biggest victory of his career.
Rahm’s shot was equally special, landing next to the hole on its second bounce but rolling to the light rough beyond the green. With Cantlay in close, the Spaniard had to hole the chip to have any chance of a playoff. He narrowly missed, and Cantlay safely two-putted for birdie and 1-under 69.
The victory was worth $15 million for Cantlay, a 29-year-old Californian whose rise in golf was slowed by a back injury that kept him out for three years and nearly ended his career.
Cantlay showed remarkable grit and clutch in surviving a six-hole playoff to beat Bryson DeChambeau in the BMW Championship last week. That’s where he picked up the moniker “Patty Ice,” along with the No. 1 seed to start the Tour Championship with a two-shot lead.
Rahm, who started the tournament four shots behind and went into the final day two back, never caught Cantlay. He never let him breathe easy, either.
Rahm closed with a 68 and tied with Kevin Na for the 72-hole score of the tournament at 14-under 266. They will split points toward the world ranking. Cantlay started at 10-under par and finished at 21 under.
LPGA TOUR/LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Leona Maguire and Mel Reid helped Europe take a 9-7 lead over the Unites States into the closing singles matches in the Solheim Cup.
Maguire and Reid combined to topple top-ranked Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing in alternate-shot play Sunday morning at Inverness, then scrambling to tie Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas in four-ball in the afternoon.
Reid and Maguire crushed the struggling Korda and Ewing 5 and 4 — the biggest blowout of any of the opening 16 matches — then halved with Kupcho and Salas when Reid knocked it to 3 feet on the par-4 18th to pull even.
Europe is trying to win on U.S. soil for just the second time in the 31-year history of the event. This is the ninth time Europe has led going into the singles matches. The Europeans have won just four of the previous eight times they were in front after two days, the last in 2013 when they scored their lone road victory at Colorado Golf Club.
EUROPEAN TOUR
GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Nicolai Hojgaard birdied the 18th hole to win the Italian Open, a week after identical twin brother Rasmus won the European Masters in Switzerland with a closing birdie.
The 20-year-olds Danes are first brothers to win consecutive European Tour events.
Hojgaard finished with an even-par 71 for a 13-under 271 total on the redesigned Marco Simone course just outside Rome that will host the 2023 Ryder Cup. Tommy Fleetwood (71) and Adrian Meronk (66) were a stroke back.
KORN FERRY TOUR
NEWBURGH, Ind. (AP) — Joseph Bramlett won the season-ending Korn Ferry Tour Championship to top the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals points standings and earn fully exempt status for the new PGA Tour season.
Stephan Jaeger, who skipped the tournament, finished first in the season-long points standings to also earn a full PGA Tour exemption.
Bramlett played the back nine in 6-under 30 and finished with a 7-under 65 for a 20-under 268 total and four-stroke victory.
Fifty players earned PGA Tour cards, half from the three-event finals standings and half from the regular-season points race.
OTHER TOURS
Shugo Imahira won the Japan Golf Tour’s Fujisankei Classic. He closed with a 7-under 64 to finish at 12 under, four strokes ahead of Ryo Iishikawa and Kenshiro Ikegmi. … Hugo Leon of Chile birdied the final holes for a 3-under 69 and a one-stroke victory in the European Challenge Tour’s British Challenge. He finished at 19 under. Oliver Bekker was second after a 72. … Yuri Yoshida won the Japan LPGA’s Golf5 Ladies, beating Eri Okayama with a par on the second hole of a playoff. Yoshida shot a 7-under 65 to match Okayama (67) at 14 under. … Kim Su-ji won the Korean LPGA’s KG Daily Ladies Open. She closed with a 4-under 68 to finish at 15 under. Lee So-mi was two strokes back.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
